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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7227971" data-attributes="member: 23">SESSION 11 July 1st I'm writing to you from the depths of a swamp. We could be resting comfortably in Breckenswan, but Blades wanted to spend the night here, in case something happened. In fact, a great deal has happened tonight, but we have done nothing to solve the mystery of the dwindling ducks. Our day started with a warm breakfast and a chat with the innkeeper, while we waited for Colby and Amar to come to the Inn. The innkeeper told of us a creature named Screech, a dragonne, who seems to be a self-appointed guardian of this area. Apparently, a dragonne is a huge bronze dragon-like creature, with a lion's head. We heard the sound of something huge flying overhead several days ago, so I suppose it must have been Screech. We asked the innkeeper about a few other things. He told us that Tesplyn was a druid who kept a grove around here. He did not seem to know much about Breckenswan, except that the Tucker clan lives there, catching fish and hunting ducks and Hibernian geese. Blades grew tired of the conversation, and went to talk to the local armorsmith. Colby and Amar showed up soon afterward, so we went to get Blades. Somehow, Blades had infuriated the Blacksmith--apparently he felt that Blades was wasting his talents by adventuring. Blades tried to explain his situation, but only succeeded in aggravating the armorer. On the way to Breckenswamp we found out a few more things about the area. This whole side of the valley is protected by a "thorn wall", erected by Tesplyn long ago (Tesplyn has not been seen in centuries). Also, the inhabitants of Breckenswan have long lived in terror of traveling the swamp at night, as a creature they've named "Blackjack" lurks there, killing unfortunate dwarves. Ogres have also been seen there. However, these creatures are not likely to be responsible for the missing ducks and geese, as they've been around for a long time, but the birds only started disappearing last year. We finally arrived at the swamp. There were many birds, but no signs of ducks or Hibernian geese. Although we tried to stay on the land, the water is only two or three feet deep, so it was not difficult to traverse. More dwarves soon brought canoes, and we quickly made our way to the nesting ground of the few remaining water fowl (Suleiman used his ring of water walking, which impressed the dwarves very much). Finis cast several spells and tried to communicate with the ducks. Meanwhile, Torin searched the muddy ground for tracks, and found an unusual footprint, which no one could identify. After a lengthy conversation, Finis returned with some information: The ducks are being attacked at night by four legged green things at night, which come out of the water. We discussed this, and then Finis continued talking with them. After a while he seemed to learn everything he could from the ducks, so we went to talk to the geese. From what the birds say, it sounds as though some sort of giant frogs (between 2 and four feet tall) are attacking the birds at night, and they have only been here for a year or so. We wanted to get a better idea of what we were up against, so we planned a trap for the frogs. I set torches around the nests, and we went to hide in a small stand of trees. Suleiman climbed a tall oak that grew from the water just a few feet from our island. Most of the dwarves went back to their village, but some of them stayed with us, armed with bows and arrows. I hope that they are better warriors than they seem; they nearly jump out of their boots at the slightest sound. The mere suggestion that Blackjack might pay a visit sets their teeth chattering. Nothing happened for a long time. Then Torin cried out in pain, as some creature struck him from behind. I began to cast lamplighter to light all the torches, but before Torin or anyone else could react or get a good look, the creature slid back into the water. We soon heard Suleiman cry out, as the creature leaped out of the water at him. It struck a glancing blow, but Suleiman climbed out of its reach. Torin and Blades charged, and struck it a few painful blows. The creature again returned to the water, but Finis cast faerie fire on it, and we quickly gave chase. It led us on a grand circle around the swamp, and finally back toward the duck island. Finis and I, being faster than the dwarves, reached the island first. We decided to stop chasing Blackjack, as he was too fast for us in the water. Finis and I went to find the Tucker clan dwarves that were still hidden in the trees on the island. As soon as we stepped toward the trees, however, three huge ogres stepped into the torch light! We retreated to the water's edge, calling for Torin and Blades to come help. Suleiman remained hidden in his oak tree. The fight was terrible; I was nearly sent flying by an Ogre, but I stood my ground. Suleiman surprised us all by striking an Ogre with a spell; apparently he is learning more quickly than Rinver suspects. Finis blanketed the area in fog with an obscurement spell, and we tried to lose ourselves in it. The ogres fumbled around for us, but could not strike us down before the dwarves arrived. Torin and Blades made short work of those Ogres; the poor fools never stood a chance. Of course, at this point, the only creatures in the area were the ducks, the Tucker clan dwarves (who had successfully hidden from the Ogres), and us. All the other swamp animals had fled from all the noise and fighting. It was unlikely that anything was going to hunt the ducks tonight, so we prepared to return to the village. As we rowed away from the island we realized that Blades had stayed behind. At this point we engaged in a lengthy, shouted argument with Blades. He wanted to stay to see if anything else would come by. We tried to point out that this was silly; Blackjack was badly injured, and no animal would come near the scene of the fight for a while. Nonetheless, Blades, stubborn as always, refused to leave. None of us wanted to simply leave him here, so we stayed as well (except for Suleiman, who was injured and quite exhausted by the spell casting). After tending to our wounds, we set up camp, and here we are. Of course, nothing has come near the island. We will try again tomorrow. July 2nd Suleiman and the Breckenswan dwarves brought us a warm breakfast this morning. After eating, we tried to track the ogres. Amar, with the wisdom of Prometheus, managed to find some tracks, and we followed them to an island deep in the swamp. All the trees on the island were smashed to the ground, and the opening of a cave was clearly visible. Nothing lay inside except junk: a rusted sword, broken helmet, battered plate, and a flagon. We returned it to the dwarves (although Torin kept the flagon). At nightfall we tried our same trick again, although we moved to the goose island this time. It was much more effective this time. We waited in darkness until a goose honked in alarm. Again, I cast lamplighter, and the island was lit by torches. We were shocked to see more than twenty large frogs crawling out of the water, attacking the geese. Finis lit several of them with Faerie Fire spells, and the dwarves waded into their midst, sending frogs flying. The frogs are vicious creatures; they have unusually sharp teeth, long claws, and absolutely no fear. They seem rabid; something strange was done to these beasts. Many of them stopped fighting us to eat their fallen comrades. Although they were not very tough, many of us were gravely wounded during the fight. Nonetheless, when several of the creatures had gorged themselves on other frogs, we followed them back to their breeding ground (thanks to another one of Finis' faerie fire spells). Along the way, Blackjack paid us another visit. He erupted from the water beside the dwarves, and viciously attacked. I summoned a watery fist, and struck the creature soundly in the side. Then Torin, swearing revenge for last night's attack, lunged forward with his battleaxes. Blackjack could do nothing but look stunned as Torin's first swing tore him open from foot to head. I used the Watery Fist to nudge the corpse onto an island, and we continued our pursuit of the four remaining frogs. Suleiman was the only one close to them now, as Finis and I had stopped to make sure the dwarves were all right. We followed Suleiman's bobbing torch to a large pool that looked deeper than the others. The frogs stopped in the middle of the pool, floating motionless. As an experiment, I threw some of our rations into the water near them. Something popped up from under the water and swallowed the food. More experimentation revealed that there were huge tadpoles under this pool. We fired arrows and threw rocks at the four frogs until they sank beneath the water. Finally, we returned to the village, after placing a marker beside the large pool, and loading Blackjack's body onto a boat. The dwarves of Breckenswan, of course, were overjoyed. I must say, I was impressed as well; we had solved their Blackjack problem, their Ogre problem, and their duck mystery in two days. The dwarves say that they think Blackjack was a Babbler, so named for the gibbering sound they sometimes make. We got a better look at the body in the day time; Babblers are huge, reptilian creatures, like crocodiles that can stand upright. We recommended to the dwarves that they drain the tadpole pool if they can; they replied that they would get started on it right away. In the meanwhile, we are being treated as their honored guests. I'm looking forward to a comfortable rest in a warm bed. Tomorrow we will return to Tesplyn's Grove. July 3rd It has been a hell of a day; and I do mean that literally. We took a large risk, succeeded, and it has paid off handsomely. I hope that I succeed in bringing some of my share of the treasure back to the temple; we will be able to afford all those renovations we have been putting off, in addition to starting many new education programs. The first thing we saw upon returning to Tesplyn's Grove was the Dragonne, Screech, pacing back and forth across the streets in the center of town. Rinver ran over to us, telling us that the townsfolk have found out that Screech is a female, who recently lost her mate. She moved her eggs to new lair, but they have somehow "fallen below the lair", although he was not sure what that meant. Dwarves were running around in a panic, and standing around arguing feverishly. Torin took charge of the situation, and asked a group of dwarves what exactly was going on. After some further questioning, the confusion was cleared up. Screech's lair was high in a mountain cave. She left the cave, and her eggs, for a brief period of time, and returned to find her eggs missing, and a tunnel under her nest, leading down into the mountain. She flew to the town, where priests translated for her. A group of dwarves got together to explore the tunnel, and she took them to her cave. Only one dwarf returned, and that dwarf didn't go down the passage. The others went down the passage, but there was a flash of light, screams, and they never returned. The dwarves said that they were offering 1,500 gold to whoever returned Screech's eggs! We were actually more interested in having Screech fly us part of the way to our destination, but gold sounded good too. We accepted the offer (even Rinver wanted to go!), and soon climbed aboard Screech's back. The dwarves had fitted her with a harness, and she carried us all effortlessly. Flying to Screech's mountain was exhilarating. I've never flown before, although I had heard it described by others (mostly mages). Everything looks so small, and you realize what a small distance you've traveled on foot--and how far you have to go. Nonetheless, the view is beautiful. Rinver pointed out the Dragon River, which we were planning to follow. After nearly an hour of flying, we approached a peak. A cavern opening could barely be seen on the side of the mountain, and Screech headed straight for it. Once inside, we began our investigation. The only sign that anything was amiss was the tunnel heading at about a forty-five degree angle, down into the heart of the mountain. The rope that the dwarves had used to aid their descent was still stretched down to the opening at the bottom. We could see only darkness at the end, so Rinver cast invisibility on Blades. Because we could feel incredible heat emanating from whatever underground passageways lay below, I cast endure heat on him as well. Blades quickly scrambled down the tunnel, had a look around, and came back up. He said that it was indeed hot down there. He had seen a small, naked man, lit by flames, run into the room, carrying a dragon's egg. He had stopped to look around, missed Blades (because he was invisible), and continued out of the room through another passage. Rinver suggested that the little man was probably a "Magman", and that an entrance to the Elemental Plane of Fire likely lay below. Those of us wearing metal armor would find movement, especially combat, very taxing. I cast endure heat on Torin and myself, Rinver cast invisibility on Suleiman, and we all headed down. What followed was a lengthy chase through winding passageways that I will not describe in all of its dull detail. Several pools of lava dotted the tunnels. We ended up fighting many of the Magmen, as they were the ones that had stolen and hidden the eggs. They tried to set us ablaze, but the endure heats protected us until I could cast no more. We ran into several other creatures there as well, including a curious "firebear" (which simply watched us), firebats, firesnakes, and a flaming skeletal man, who shot fire from his hands. Whenever we found an egg, Suleiman (who remained invisible) would run it up to the Dragonne, who waited above. At one point, Rinver disposed of several Magmen at once by casting an ice wall off of a scroll, in the air above them. He also saved my life from one of the firebats, by striking it with magic missiles as it tried to suck the blood from my body. Blades bravely risked his life searching a room with an unstable ceiling; it collapsed as he moved stones around, looking for an egg. He managed to find the egg, throw it to Finis, and stumble through the falling rocks before the room crashed down. Finally, we killed the firesnakes to get the last egg. On the way out, a giant flaming earthworm tried to make a meal of Blades, but we ran for the tunnel and escaped. Six of the seven eggs were returned intact. One egg had been turned black by something the Magmen had done to it. Despite the loss of one egg, Screech was very happy (we could tell because she started purring and licked us). Suleiman revealed two rubies that he found. One was rather plain, but the other burned with a fire inside, as if it had a piece of the elemental plane of fire in it. Screech carried us back to town in the early evening, and quickly flew back to her nest. The dwarves took us back to the One-Eyed Crow, where Suleiman told the story in his quickly-improving Dwarvish. The dwarves bought us drinks, and happily paid us our 1,500 gold. A dwarf named Hubert said that he'll ring the bells for Screech tomorrow, and we'll see if she will give carry us part of the way toward our goal. We retired to the inn for a well-deserved rest. Poor Torin's endure heat spell wore off (and I exhausted my ability to channel power) before we got out of the tunnels, and I think he nearly fainted due to heat exhaustion. I think I can say that we have made great steps lately in our party's abilities; Suleiman is quickly becoming a skilled magic-user; my ability to channel the holy fire grows, Finis' connection with nature grows stronger, and the dwarves are deadlier than ever. I'm even beginning to understand the dwarvish tongue. The name of the Pentachromata seems to be slowly spreading. Whether that is good or bad, only time will tell. I like to think that it is good.</blockquote>

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